Twitter and Facebook 'stand with' Apple in FBI encryption battle

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook have both publicly supported Apple's fight against the FBI over encryption backdoors.

Apple had been asked to hack into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, a court order it said was "dangerous". Now, both Twitter and Facebook have backed Apple's stance.

Advertisement

Jack Dorsey, Twitter's embattled CEO, wrote the company "[stood] with Tim Cook and Apple" and thanked "him for his leadership," before linking to Cook's letter.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had personally been silent on the case, preferring to post about the company's latest artificial intelligence work. However, the Facebook press office issued a statement on the company's behalf, arguing the court's order could create a "chilling precedent". "When we receive lawful requests from these authorities we comply," the statement from Facebook said. "However, we will continue to fight aggressively against requirements for companies to weaken the security of their systems. These demands would create a chilling precedent and obstruct companies’ efforts to secure their products."

The backlash from major technology firms follows a judge's court order that Apple should create an operating system that would allow the FBI to brute force its way into the iPhone 5C of Syed Rizwan Farook. Apple claimed that creating a back door to unlock one iPhone would make all its customers vulnerable should the information fall into the wrong hands.

Advertisement

Faster to react than Twitter and Facebook were Facebook-owned WhatsApp, Mozilla, and Google, who all backed Apple's stance. The major concern from the tech companies is that if Apple buckles to the courts then it will have to do so every time a similar order is made. This could potentially also be the case if a security agency from another country requested the same to happen.

If Apple won't comply there may be another, bizarre, way to get the phone unlocked. John McAfee, of antivirus fame, has said he will decrypt the iPhone for the FBI for free.

Writing for Business Insider McAfee claimed: "I will, free of charge, decrypt the information on the San Bernardino phone, with my team. We will primarily use social engineering, and it will take us three weeks."